India’s Top 30 Richest Persons: A Wealthy Overview

India’s Top 30 Richest Persons: A Wealthy Overview

India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and its wealth is increasing at an unprecedented rate. India is also home to some of the richest people in the world, with a total of 30 billionaires on the Forbes 2023 list of the world’s richest people. The combined net worth of India’s top 30 richest people is over $600 billion, which is more than the GDP of many countries.

This list of the top 30 richest people in India provides a snapshot of the country’s growing wealth and the individuals who are driving its economic growth. The rise of India’s ultra-wealthy has been driven by several factors, including the country’s rapid economic growth, the liberalization of the economy, and the growth of the IT and financial services sectors. Let’s delve into the list.

1. Mukesh Ambani  – Net Worth: $92B

Mukesh Ambani chairs and runs $110 billion revenue Reliance Industries, which has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, retail and financial services. Reliance was founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani, a yarn trader, in 1966 as a small textile manufacturer. After his father’s death in 2002, Ambani and his younger sibling Anil divvied up the family empire.

Ambani is pivoting Reliance on green energy. The company will be investing $80 billion over the next 10-15 years in renewable energy and building a new complex next to its refinery. Ambani’s three children joined the board of Reliance in August 2023. Son Akash heads Jio; daughter Isha oversees retail and financial services; and younger son Anant is in the energy business

2. Gautam Adani & family  – Net Worth: $68B

Gautam Adani is chairman of the Ahmedabad-based Adani Group with interests in ports, airports, power generation and transmission, green energy, edible oils, cement and real estate, among others. Adani grew his company, which began in 1988 as a commodities trading firm, into new sectors through debt-financing acquisitions, and by cultivating close ties to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Adani is India’s biggest airport operator and also controls Mundra Port, India’s largest, in his home state of Gujarata. Adani became India’s second-largest cement producer in 2022, after acquiring Swiss firm Holcim’s Indian assets for $10.5 billion.

3. Shiv Nadar  – Net Worth: $29.3B

Indian IT pioneer Shiv Nadar cofounded HCL in a garage in 1976 to make calculators and microprocessors with five friends. Today, his $12.6 billion revenue HCL Technologies is among India’s largest companies offering software services providers. In July 2020, he stepped down as chairman of HCL Technologies, handing over the position to his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra. 

Shiv is now chairman emeritus and strategic advisor. HCL Technologies, which employs more than 225,000 people in 60 countries worldwide, hires high school grads and trains them on the job. One of India’s leading philanthropists, Nadar has donated $1.1 billion to his Shiv Nadar Foundation, which backs education-related causes.

4. Savitri Jindal & family  – Net Worth: $24B

Prime Minister’s Office (GODL-India), GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons

Jindal Group, is another Indian company whose interests include steel, power, cement and infrastructure, is chaired by Savitri Jindal, widow of founder Om Prakash Jindal. Upon O.P. Jindal’s death in 2005 in a helicopter crash, the group’s companies were divided among his four sons, who now run them independently.

The biggest assets of the group are overseen by her Mumbai-based son Sajjan Jindal, who runs JSW Steel, among many else. In September 2023, Sajjan Jindal took ports arm JSW Infrastructure, public.

5. Radhakishan Damani & family  – Net Worth: $23B

Veteran Mumbai investor Radhakishan Damani became India’s retail king after the March 2017 IPO of his supermarket chain Avenue Supermart. Damani got into retailing in 2002 with one store in suburban Mumbai. Today he has 336 DMart stores across India.

Damani also holds stakes in a range of companies, from tobacco firm VST Industries to cement producer India Cements. His property portfolio includes the 156-room Radisson Blu Resort in Alibaug, a popular beachfront getaway close to Mumbai.

6. Cyrus Poonawalla – Net Worth: $20.7B

TheAsianAwards, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cyrus Poonawalla founded Serum Institute of India in 1966 and built it into the world’s largest vaccine maker by doses. Headquartered in Pune city, close to Mumbai, Serum produces over 1.5 billion doses annually of a range of vaccines, including for measles, polio and flu.

Serum’s Covishield, the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, was the most widely used in India during the pandemic. Poonawalla’s assets include a majority stake in listed financial services firm Poonawalla Fincorp as well as a stake in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pune.

7. Hinduja Family  – Net Worth: $20B

The Hinduja family controls the multinational conglomerate the Hinduja Group with businesses ranging from trucks and lubricants to banking and cable television. Gopichand Hinduja, who belongs to the second generation, took over as chairman after his older brother Srichand Hinduja died in May 2023.

The family owns valuable real estate in London, including the Raffles London Hotel, housed in the historic Old War Office building in Whitehall, which opened with much fanfare in September 2023.

8. Dilip Shanghvi  – Net Worth: $19B

M.Arvindd Shanmugam, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dilip Shanghvi borrowed $200 from his father to start Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in 1983 to make psychiatric drugs. The company is India’s most valuable listed pharma outfit and gets two-thirds of its $5.3 billion annual revenue from overseas markets.

Shanghvi grew Sun through a series of shrewd acquisitions, the biggest of which was the purchase of rival Ranbaxy Laboratories for $4 billion in 2014. In March 2023, Sun Pharma completed the $576 million acquisition of U.S.-based Concert Pharmaceuticals.

9. Kumar Birla  – Net Worth: $17.5B

Kumar Birla is the fourth generation head of the storied, $65 billion revenue Aditya Birla Group. More than half is generated outside India, where it has a presence in 41 countries. The group’s interests span cement, textiles and aluminum to telecom, financial services and paints. It has recently entered new sectors such as branded jewelry and hospitality.

In 2021, he stepped down as chairman of debt-strapped telecom firm Vodafone Idea, formed by the 2018 merger between his Idea Cellular and Vodafone India. In 2023, his daughter Ananya and son Aryaman, joined the boards of Grasim and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.

10. Shapoor Mistry  – Net Worth: $16.9B

Shapoor Mistry controls the 158-year-old engineering and construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group. He shares his fortune with the family of his late younger brother Cyrus Mistry. The family’s biggest asset is an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, a holding outfit of the $150 billion revenue Tata Group.

Mistry suffered a double loss in 2022: his father and group patriarch Pallonji Mistry died in June. Three months later his younger brother Cyrus Mistry died in a car crash at age 54. Before he died, Cyrus was working together with Shapoor to restructure the debt-laden family business by selling key assets. Cyrus was chairman of Tata Sons for four years until October 2016, when he was ousted.

11. Sunil Mittal  – Net Worth: $16.8B

World Economic Forum, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel is among India’s largest mobile phone operators with more than 500 million customers across South Asia and Africa. Airtel, which has SingTel as its partner, competes with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Kumar Birla’s Vodafone Idea.

Mittal also owns Airtel Payments Bank, a niche bank, which started as a joint venture with Kotak Mahindra Bank, controlled by fellow billionaire Uday Kotak. In 2022, Google announced a $1 billion investment in Bharti Airtel, of which $700 million would be for a minority stake in the company.

12. Godrej Family  – Net Worth: $16.7B

The Godrej family controls the $5.7 billion revenue Godrej Group, a 126-year-old consumer-goods giant. The group was established by lawyer Ardeshir Godrej, who gave up his profession to make locks in 1897.

Key group companies include Godrej Consumer Products, chaired by Adi Godrej’s daughter Nisaba and Godrej Properties, run by his son Pirojsha. The family owns a vast parcel of land in suburban Mumbai that remains its biggest asset.

13. Lakshmi Mittal  – Net Worth: $15.9B

Financial Times, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lakshmi Mittal serves as chairman of $80 billion revenue ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel and mining company by output. Hailing from a steel clan, he separated from his siblings to start Mittal Steel then went on to merge the company with France’s Arcelor in 2006.

In 2019, Arcelor and Nippon Steel completed their $5.9 billion acquisition of Essar Steel, once controlled by billionaires Shashi and Ravi Ruia. In 2021, Mittal ceded the CEO’s position to his son, Aditya Mittal, but retained the title of executive chairman of ArcelorMittal.

14. Bajaj Family  – Net Worth: $15B

The Bajaj family controls the 97-year-old Bajaj Group, best known for motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto and financial services arm, Bajaj Finserv. The group was chaired by Rahul Bajaj, who shared the fortune with cousins Madhur, Niraj and Shekhar. The patriarch died in February 2022 at age 83.

Bajaj Auto is run by the late patriarch’s older son Rajiv. Bajaj Finserv is run by Rajul Bajaj’s younger son Sanjiv and is the family’s biggest asset. The group’s founder, Jamnalal Bajaj, was a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi.

15. Uday Kotak  – Net Worth: $13.4B

Ministry of Finance (GODL-India), GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons

Spurning his family’s trading business, Uday Kotak started a finance firm in 1985 and then went on to convert it into a bank in 2003. His Kotak Mahindra Bank is now among India’s top four banks in the private sector, boosted by its 2014 acquisition of ING Bank’s Indian operations.

In 2020, Kotak sold some shares to reduce his stake in the bank as mandated by the Reserve Bank of India. In September 2023, Kotak stepped down as CEO and managing director of the bank, four months ahead of his retirement. He’s now a non-executive director on the board.

16. Kushal Pal Singh  – Net Worth: $11.9B

Property baron Kushal Pal Singh left an army posting in 1961 to join DLF, a company started by his father-in-law in 1946. Singh later built DLF City in Gurgaon, his showpiece township on the outskirts of Delhi, by acquiring land from farmers. Today, Delhi-headquartered DLF, run by his son Rajiv as chairman, is India’s biggest listed property firm by market cap.

In August 2017, Singh sold his one-third stake in DLF’s rental arm to GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, for $1.9 billion. In 2022, DLF launched a luxury residential project in Delhi with GIC. Singh stepped down as chairman after more than five decades in that position, in June 2020. He’s now chairman emeritus of DLF and lives mostly between London and Dubai.

17. Azim Premji  – Net Worth: $11.6B

© Monika Flueckiger / World Economic Forum, swiss-image.ch

Indian tech magnate Azim Premji’s $11.3 billion revenue Wipro is among India’s largest software services providers. Wipro has an innovation centre in Silicon Valley, which is focused on developing new technologies and collaborating with startups.

In July 2019, Premji’s son Rishad, succeeded his father as Wipro’s executive chairman. The elder Premji is the founder chairman.

18. Ravi Jaipuria  – Net Worth: $11.5B

Ravi Jaipuria, presides over RJ Corp. which is into everything from beverages and fast food to healthcare and education. His listed flagship Varun Beverages is one of PepsiCo’s biggest bottlers outside the U.S.

It got PepsiCo’s International Bottler of the Year 2022 award. His Devyani International, which operates KFC, Pizza Hut and Costa Coffee stores, got listed in August 2021, boosting his fortune.

19. Madhukar Parekh  – Net Worth: $11.1B

Madhukar Parekh is chairman of Pidilite Industries, India’s leading maker of adhesives and sealants. Parekh and his family own a majority stake in the company, which was founded by his late father Balvant Parekh in 1959.

Pidilite is best known for Fevicol, its iconic white glue popularized over the decades by clever advertising. More than half of the company’s $1.4 billion in annual revenue comes from adhesives and sealants.

20. Burman Family  – Net Worth: $8.9B

Five branches of the Burman family share a consumer goods fortune drawn mainly from their majority stake in listed flagship Dabur. Dabur was started in 1884 in Kolkata by S.K. Burman, a practitioner of Ayurveda, to make medicines to fight diseases such as cholera and malaria.

Dabur’s portfolio of brands include Vatika hair oil, Real fruit juices and Hajmola digestive candy. The family’s private holdings range from restaurants to home healthcare to life insurance.

21. Kuldip Singh & Gurbachan Singh Dhingra  – Net Worth: $8.2B

Siblings Kuldip Singh and Gurbachan Singh Dhingra control Berger Paints India, the country’s second-largest paint maker. In 1991 they bought Berger Paints, then the country’s smallest paint maker, from liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya. Apart from India, Berger has a presence in Bangladesh, Nepal, Poland and Russia.

22. Dani Family  – Net Worth: $8B

The Dani family consists of the heirs of late paints tycoon Ashwin Dani, who was a non-executive director of the $4.2 billion revenue Asian Paints. The company was founded by the late Ashwin Dani’s father and three others in 1942.

Now among Asia’s biggest paint companies, it gets 98% of its annual revenue from the domestic market. The company also offers home painting services and an interior design service.

23. Sudhir & Samir Mehta  – Net Worth: $7.9B

Akshay1114, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Brothers Sudhir & Samir Mehta get the bulk of their wealth from Torrent Pharmaceuticals, the flagship of the $4.6 billion revenue Torrent Group. The 64-year-old company was founded by their late father Uttambhai Nathalal Mehta, who was a salesman for Swiss pharma giant Sandoz.

Their Torrent Power distributes electricity to more than 3.8 million customers in their home state of Gujarat and two other states.

24. Hasmukh Chudgar  – Net Worth: $7.7B

Hasmukh Chudgar founded generics maker Intas Pharmaceuticals in 1977. Chudgar has long handed over operations to his sons Nimish and Binish, who run the $2.5 billion revenue company. Intas, which is backed by Singapore’s Temasek, operates 15 factories of which 10 are in India and the rest in Europe and Mexico.

25. Murugappa Family  – Net Worth: $7.3B

The Murugappa family controls the Murugappa Group, a $9 billion revenue conglomerate founded in 1900 as a money-lending firm in Myanmar. The group has 29 businesses, including nine listed companies, making abrasives, auto components, bicycles, fertilizers and sugar.

The group’s marquee brands include BSA and Hercules for bicycles and Parry for sugar. Fourth-generation family member M.M. Murugappan is chairman of group companies CUMI and Chola MS General Insurance. Vellayan Subbiah, another member of the fourth generation, is chairman of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance, the group’s non-banking finance arm.

26. Benu Gopal Bangur  – Net Worth: $7.2B

Cement czar Benu Gopal Bangur gets his wealth from a majority stake in Shree Cement, one of India’s most cost-efficient cement producers. Shree, which was started in 1979 in Jaipur, sells branded cement under the names of Shree Ultra Jung Rodhak, Bangur Cement and Rockstrong.

Bangur hails from a storied business clan in Kolkata and got control of Shree Cement in the 1990s after a family split. Today the company is run by his son Hari Mohan, who was appointed chairman in October 2022 after Bangur stepped down. His grandson Prashant is vice chairman. In July 2023, the federal Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued an inspection order alleging improper filing of income tax returns by Shree Cement. The company denied any tax evasion. The Bangurs were among the top ten richest families in India in the 1950s and 1960s.

27. M.A Yusuff Ali  – Net Worth: $7.1B

KM Adhil, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Middle East retail king M.A. Yusuff Ali presides over $8.4 billion revenue LuLu Group International, with 256 hypermarkets and malls in the Gulf and elsewhere. Hailing from a village in Kerala state in south India, Yusuff Ali left for Abu Dhabi in 1973 to join his uncle’s small distribution business.

In April 2020, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family reportedly acquired a 20% stake in LuLu for $1 billion. Yusuff Ali is planning to list the retail business in 2023-2024. Other assets include the Waldorf Astoria in Scotland and the Great Scotland Yard Hotel, the former headquarters of the U.K. Metropolitan Police. Yusuff Ali donated $6.8 million to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. He also built and donated a treatment center with 1,400 beds in Kerala.

28. Rekha Jhunjhunwala  – Net Worth: $7B

Rekha Jhunjhunwala inherited a valuable stock portfolio from her late husband Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who was often referred to as India’s Warren Buffett. The investor with a Midas touch passed away in August 2022 at age 62. The most valuable listed holding in the portfolio is watch and jewelry maker Titan, part of the Tata conglomerate.

The late Jhunjhunwala’s early bets on Star Health and Allied Insurance and Metro Brands paid off when both companies were listed in 2021. Her husband was an investor in the new, low-cost airline Akasa Air, which launched in August 2022, shortly before he died. Their privately owned stock trading firm Rare Enterprises, derives its name from the first two initials of her name and her husband’s name.

29. Ramesh and Rajeev Juneja  – Net Worth: $6.9B

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Former pharma salesman Ramesh Juneja founded privately held Mankind Pharma with his younger brother Rajeev in 1995. The company is a low-cost generics champion generating most of its $1 billion revenue in India.

The company also makes popular brands of condoms and pregnancy test kits. Mankind got listed in May 2023 at a 20% premium with the Junejas selling part of their stake. Ramesh Juneja’s U.K.-educated son Arjun is Mankind’s chief operating officer. Rajeev’s son Chanakya is the director of technology.

30. Vinod and Anil Rai Gupta  – Net Worth: $6.7B

Mother and son Vinod and Anil Rai Gupta draw their fortune from their family’s majority holding in flagship Havells India. The company, which is run by Anil, makes everything from electrical and lighting fixtures to fans, refrigerators and washing machines.

Havells was founded by Vinod’s late husband Qimat Rai Gupta in 1958 as an electricals trading business. The company has 15 manufacturing units and sells in more than 70 countries. Brand ambassadors for the company include former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly as well as Bollywood couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.

The concentration of wealth in a few hands has raised concerns about inequality and social mobility in India. However, as outlined in the article,  the ultra-wealthy have also played a significant role in India’s economic development by investing in new businesses and creating jobs.